Saturday, May 11, 2013

Letting Go

I attended a lecture by Baba Ram Das once where he said that the fine art of life was holding on tightly and then letting go lightly. Interesting the he put letting go as a very fundamental essence of the life process, but when you think of it, it is as fundamental as breathing itself.

Shackman and I also share the love of pitching a baseball and we can attest that holding on through strong G forces and then at just the right time letting go - and the manner in which you let go - is what pitching is about. Pitchers talk about their control relying upon finding the proper release point. So, is life itself in so many aspects. Loss of a relationship, loss of a loved one, loss of wealth, it is difficult to find the proper release point and it is difficult to let go correctly. But, just as the release of a breath is necessary to the inhalation of the next one, we must let all the other parts of our lives go at the proper release point so that we can embrace the new.

This week has also taught me a whole new meaning of release. I got a bladder infection and there was a misdiagnosis of the bacteria until the culture was done, so I didn't start getting better until yesterday. Trust me, when you have a strong bladder infection, you learn a whole new meaning of the difficulty of release! Oh, boy.

This topic was brought to the LBC by Maria, the Silverfox. I am late, for the reasons mentioned in this post coupled with a few work projects that refused to wait. Oh well, that is past, so I can let it go. Now, let this post go and see what the other members had to say!

8 comments:

After owning four children for 18 yrs. each, I had a hard time letting go. Now I'm having a hard time letting go of my too-many treasures. The kids don't want them. They have enough of their own stuff. Thanks Maria. Letting Go is a terrific topic.

Yeah, my fever hit 102, but no ambulance. Let's just say the doctor did NOT take it lightly. I definitely had a hard time eliminating, but they got it early enough and figured out the right stuff so no catheter was needed. But it HURT and my empathy for women who are more vulnerable to it went up quite a bit!

Wow! Baba Ramdas yet. You never fail to surprise me. And that particular quote hold tightly and let go lightly is a beautiful metaphor. Like in baseball, bowling in cricket is also all about when to let go. That metaphor too is very apt.

Let us carry this bit about the bladder to its logical conclusion. One of the great pleasures of life is to find the time and place to let go after not being able to for a long time!

The logical conclusion you are going to is one that I find very apt. There is no relief like the letting go of pent up demand and it shows up in so many places in life, the bladder only being my most immediate example. Economies experience this, socially subjugated people experience this, grieving people experience this and on and on. It can lead to a renaissance or it can lead to a war.

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